Burning at Both Ends
by Akaroku
Summary: Jack is always willing to help and has a hard time saying no to his friends when they are in need. His good intentions are starting to take their toll though and it takes the intervention of the last person he would have expected to get him to realize it.


The frown on Jarvis' face deepened as he stared down at the passed out teen slumped over the table. Though it wasn't uncommon for said table to find itself as a make shift pillow, it wasn't typically the energetic Jack that used it this way.

"Hey!" he called out as he shook the boy awake, flinching back when Jack shot up with a startled cry.

"Huh, Sarge? What are you doing in my room?" Jack mumbled, one eye closed and the other heavy lidded with fatigue.

"Your room? Idiot you fell asleep at work." Jarvis seized the boy by the jaw when his head began to lull forward, forcing him to look back up and earning a tired sound of protest. He took note of the dark circles under his reddened eyes and how uncharacteristically pale his skin seemed.

"The hell happened to you anyway?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. I'm just a little tired." Jack replied with a wide yawn. He began to doze off in the older mans hand but was shaken back to wakefulness.

"A little tired?"

"Yeah, I was up kinda late last night doing a few things for some friends."

"How late?"

"I dunno…" Jack squinted out of the corner of his eyes towards the clock on the wall, finding it was 10 am. "Until about an hour ago."

"You were up all night!?"

"Well, actually two days." Jack corrected, ignoring his superiors incredulous cries. "I've just been so busy, but I'm fine. Do we have a job today?"

"What? No…No we don't." Jarvis replied, looking momentarily annoyed by the lack of work before returning to the matter at hand. "Never mind that, even if we did have work you're going straight home."

"What!? Why?" Jack cried out in surprise when he was hauled out of his chair by the back of his vest. He hardly had the energy to fight as he was half carried, half walked towards the squad room entrance.

"Because you're a dumbass." Jarvis answered, dragging Jack up the stairs and not releasing him until they were in the lobby. Jack shot him a defiant look as he assertively pointed to the door but didn't verbally express any complaints before leaving.

"What was that about?" Thanos asked, boredly leaning back in his chair.

"The kid's been up for two days straight. What is he even doing?"

"Really? No idea. He did take on quite a few jobs I had piling up yesterday though, including that one _I_ put in." Thanos explained, a complacent smile spreading across his face. "After he was done he hurried off, said something about bringing some friends some item he found for them or whatever."

"Wait you put in a request? AND you had work piling up? Why didn't you tell me when I was asking about it yesterday!?" Jarvis demanded as he stormed over, slamming his hands on the hard wood desk as he glared down at the receptionist.

"You think I'm gonna trust _you_ with anything I need done?" Both men glared at each other for several long moments until Jarvis gave the desk a hard shove. Thanos cries out as he was nudged just enough to send him toppling backwards.

"Yeah! Real mature buddy, what are you twelve." Thanos yelled from his sprawled position on the floor.

The sight of his long neglected bed was the most welcoming sight Jack had seen in a while. He didn't even have the energy to change into pajamas, instead using what little he had left to kick off his boots and walk the few steps it took to get to his bed. With two full days of wakefulness under his belt and distant memories of the last time he was allowed to sleep through the night undisturbed, he fell haphazardly into the unmade sheets. One leg hung over the edge of the mattress just enough so that his knee almost touched the floor and his head hadn't even reached the pillow, but he hardly cared as he drifted off into a deep sleep.

It felt like hardly any time had gone by when Jack woke up to the familiar sound of banging at his door. He notes that the beams of light shining through his window have moved slightly across the floor, maybe he's been asleep for a few hours. It's hardly enough though and he rolls across the bed, dragging the blanket with him and wrapping himself up in a linen cocoon. He tries to pretend he doesn't hear the knocking and hopes whoever it is leaves.

Sadly the knocking doesn't relent, instead growing more urgent. With a groan Jack unfurls himself from his bedding and drags himself to the front door. Upon answering he finds Yuri, the impatient look on her face quickly changing to a sweet smile.

"Oh good, you are home after all. I was worried you weren't in town when I couldn't find you at Theater Vancoor." She stared, not at all bothering to hide the fact that she was indeed here to ask him for something.

"Yeah, yeah, here I am. What do you need me to do?"

"Well you see, Jasmine ordered a bunch of new merchandise to sell in her store. But the problem is that the shipment came in really late, she has to deal with customers and doesn't have time to bring everything inside."

"So you want me to help?" Jack guessed, sighing when Yuri nodded her head. "What about you? If you had the time to come find me, couldn't you just help her?"

"I have a restaurant I'm trying to run." Yuri argued, her sweet demeanor gone and replaced by the no nonsense attitude she typically reserved for the drunken patrons at her night job. "I only have a short time for a lunch break and I've already used most of it searching for you. Besides you aren't doing anything now anyway."

"Okay, okay! Calm down, I'll do it." Jack gave in, sighing with relief when the woman's sweet smile came back. "It's just a few boxes right? Won't take that long."

"I'm telling you it's really good. You can't even tell the difference!" Daniel pleaded as he followed Jarvis away from Begin's front counter. He held up a vegetarian hand pie in one hand while munching away at a second one in the other.

"I'm not trying it! And how do you know? When was the last time you ate real food?" Jarvis countered, carrying three meat pies of his own in one arm and shoving a fourth in his mouth to free up his hand to open the door.

"This **is** real food! Come on just try one bite." Daniel practically shoved the uneaten veggie pie into the older mans face, earning a growl and a sharp look.

"Get that garbage out of my face." Jarvis said through a mouthful of food.

"It's not garbage! It's tasty and healthy and leaves your conscience clear because you aren't eating living flesh!" The boys voice grew in pitch as he ranted in defence of his lunch. Jarvis could only stare in surprise of the out burst, completely at a loss for how to respond.

"Hey, you said Jack was out sick today right?" Daniel's attention suddenly shifted to something behind Jarvis.

"Yeah?"

"Then why's he here." Jarvis turned to follow the direction Daniel was pointing in. Lo and behold, there was Jack, just next door at the Accessory shop. The boy looked no less tired than he was a few hours ago and all the more irritated as he pulled boxes off of one of several stacks and carried them into the shop two at a time.

Jarvis growled in annoyance and dumped his remaining pies into Daniel's arms, causing the boy to squeak with indignance and whine that he was now unable to tell which one was his. He ignored the stockier boy as he stormed over to where Jack was, grabbing him by the shoulder as he was reaching out for another box and spinning him around.

"What on earth are you doing? I told you to go home and sleep." Jarvis demands, flinching back when Jack squares up to him, face tight and eyes watery from frustration.

"I did! People keep knocking on my door and bugging me to do these things for them."

"Has it ever occurred to you to say no?"

Jack opened his mouth to make a retort but was unable to think of anything to say. He turned what Jarvis had told him over in his mind a few times before sagging forward with defeat.

Jarvis' face softened with concern as he watched Jack bury his face in the fabric of his surcoat, attempting to hid the frustrated tears that managed to escape his tired eyes. Before he could think to do anything, the jingling of the shop bell sounded, signaling someone exiting the store.

"What's going on? What happened?" Jasmine asked, concerned when she saw the scene in front of her store.

"The kid's exhausted from all you people running him ragged, that's what's happening!" Jarvis scolded, causing the blond woman to flinch back in surprise.

"I didn't…I had no idea. I just told Yuri I needed some help and she told me Jack was always willing to help out." Jarvis found he couldn't stay angry at the woman, it wasn't her's or Yuri's fault the boy couldn't say no and realistically there was no way for them to know just how much work he was doing for everyone else.

"Yeah well…that's the problem. Next time go to the guild and pay the fine for his services. Or better yet find someone whose job it is to move things around." Jarvis bent slightly to grab the teen by the waist and slung his body over his shoulder.

"Daniel." Said boy jumped when he was addressed, nearly dropping the assortment of pies in his arms. "Help her out why don't you. I'm taking Jack home."

"Uh, yes sir." Daniel nodded, tilting his head as he watched his Sergeant walk away and mumbling under his breath. "Doesn't Jack live the other way?"

"I can walk you know. Also this isn't even the right way to my house." Jack grumbled as he stared at the brick pathway passing by beneath them. Jarvis hummed in mild acknowledgement but didn't put Jack down. Jack huffed as he struggled to adjust his position so the armored man's shoulder wasn't digging so hard into his stomach. When he discovered there was no getting comfortable he resolved to hanging there limply, hoping wherever the man was taking him at least wasn't too far away.

Thankfully his wish was granted when Jarvis took a sudden turn and entered a building. Once inside he finally dumped Jack back on his feet and immediately pushed him into another room before he had a chance to look around.

The next room they entered was a bedroom, sparsely furnished with the bare necessities and littered with clothing, and weapon and armor maintenance supplies. Jack was tempted to comment on it, but he supposed he wasn't any more of a neat freak himself.

"You really need to knock this behavior off kid." Jarvis started scolding, forcing Jack to turn around and face him.

"Why? Because I'm not charging them money for my help?" Jack snapped back, not in the mood to be told what to do.

"It's not about the money. What if we had a job today? What if something happened to Daniel or I because **you** were to tired to do your job properly." Jarvis jabbed a finger perhaps a little to ruffly into the boys chest to emphasize his point.

"Like I'm gonna take advice like that from someone who shows up hungover almost everyday."

"I don't, augh!" Jarvis clenched his fists, taking a moments to calm down enough so he wasn't on the verge of punching the kid in the face. "Fine, fuck us then right? But what about you? You going to keep doing this until the day you die, which will be really soon if that's how you're going to be."

Jack's lips formed a thin line as he glared up at the larger man, but his expression quickly softened as he eventually realized there was truth to what Jarvis was saying.

"I just wanted to help everyone out." He couldn't help it as his head bowed in guilt, making him look all the more like a child being scolded.

"Yeah, and that's really noble of you. But you can't make everyone happy. Try to and they'll just take and take until there's nothing left." Jarvis crossed his arms as he waited for Jack to respond. Normally he took some degree of pleasure in taking the kid down a few notches, but those were always in relation to petty fights. He didn't want to have to be the one to beat Jack down about taking care of himself, especially when he was already feeling crappy from being over tired to begin with. The kicked puppy look on his face didn't make him feel any better ether, but it was clear no one else was going to be stepping in any time soon.

"Fine, do _me_ a favor then." He grabbed Jack by the jaw and tilted his head up so they were making eye contact. "Stop staying up for days at a time and put a limit on how much charity work you do everyday."

Jack looked to be thinking the request over for a few moments. Eventuality he smiled and hummed a quiet laugh.

"Yeah, sure."

"Good," He released Jack's jaw and pointed to the bed at the corner of the room. Jack turned to follow his line of direction, crying out when he was shoved for not having responded fast enough.

"This is a little weird." Jack couldn't help pointing out. "You're not planning anything weird are you."

"Don't flatter yourself." Jarvis replied indignantly, though part of him was happy to see the positive shift in Jack's attitude, taking it as a sign that the teen held no ill will over being told how to live his life.

"You said people keep bugging you while you're sleeping right? Then sleep in my bed for now. No one ever knocks on my door anyway." he declared, crossing his arms and nodding with satisfaction. After a moment it seemed what he said had sunk in and he sagged under the weight of the realization that he had no social life. Jack couldn't help but laugh at his expense, not stopping even when the older man shoved him down on the bed and pulled the blanket up over his head.

"Just shut up and go to sleep."

"Hey this isn't how you tuck children in Sarge."

"I'm not tucking in a child, I'm tucking in a shrimp. Keep being a jerk and see if I ever do anything nice for you again."

Jack stifled his laughter as he peaked back out from under the sheets, working to remove his boots and accessories without having to get back up again. Satisfied that he wouldn't be bounding out and about anytime soon, Jarvis turned and made to leave but paused at the doorway when Jack called out to him again.

"Thanks by the way. I guess I was starting to kinda get carried away."

"Yeah, yeah." Jarvis replied nonchalantly, though it was glaringly obvious in the way he fiddled with his mustache and refused to make eye contact that the simple thanks left him feeling awkward.

"And here I was thinking you didn't care about me at all." Jack couldn't help but tease, finding humor in watching his boss bristle and turn red at the comment.

Jarvis turned his back to Jack with an indignant "tsk" but made no other move to leave. He debated whether he should say anything before leaving, a comeback to the boys teasing, a reiteration of why the Jack should do better to take care of himself, maybe he could just be nice and validate that he indeed did care for him as a coworker and friend.

It didn't matter in the end. As he turned back to make his statement he found that the boy had already passed out. He stared in mild amazement of how quickly Jack had fallen into such a deep sleep, he had just been awake and joking around not even seconds before. It was a wonder how Jack had even managed to function so long if he really was that tired.

"Take it easy kid." He mumbled, finally leaving the boy to his much earned rest.


End file.
